The Nature-Nerd Nuts & Bolts of Permaculture

Values, Influences and Methods for Living Life as Part of Life

Since 2010 I have been living in different sustainable communities around the country. Almost every one of them integrated permaculture principles into their farms or gardens. As a result, permaculture philosophy has had played a big role in my personal growth and healing through Service-Centered Art (learn more about it here) With that in mind, here’s a summary of what I’ve learned along the way:

Let’s start with a definition: Permaculture is a philosophy that is made of a set of ethics and principles that aims to create what the word itself suggests: permanent culture. As a leading philosophy to sustainability, it aims to create systems of food production and human habitat that work in harmony with the whole environment. Learn more biodiversity (one of permaculture’s muses) here.

Inspired by natural systems, permaculture is also rooted in the wisdom of people who have lived in harmony with them. That being said, permaculture merges Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)¹ with organic approaches to agriculture.  TEK is the wisdom that is passed down through generations from cultures who have developed healthy relationships with the environment over time. It includes wisdom from traditions all over the world and often contributes to the foundations of many sustainable and ecological approaches to life. 

With that in mind, though permaculture was originally created by two Australians (Bill Mollison and David Holmgren), who were largely influenced by East Asian approaches to sustainable farming and Aboriginal Tasmanian approaches to ecological living², permaculture has now grown into a decentralized and broadly defined philosophy that is being taught and evolved by different people all over the world, with influences that are just as diverse. Still,

The overall ethics of permaculture are³:

1. "Care of the Earth:…for all life systems to continue and multiply"

2. "Care of People:…for people to access those resources necessary for their existence"

3. Fair Share: “Setting limits to population and consumption: By governing our own needs, we can set resources aside to further the above principles”

As a set of ethics and principles, permaculture is meant to be an inspiring framework for creation and problem-solving, not a dogmatic set of rules. Though there is a set of 12 principles that are often sighted⁴, I’ve seen people highlight and word these principles in many different ways (and again, there is no official authority on what is “technically” permaculture and what is not). That being said,

Here’s a summary of the permaculture principles I’ve gathered over time:

1. Work in harmony with the environment that you’re part of by considering the soil type, weather patterns, sun/shade cycles, native plants and animals in the area, and water patterns. Design your permaculture system to work in ways that highlight the natural gifts of the land.  Work with what’cha got, rather than against it. 

2. Produce as much as you can with as little energy as possible; design the garden/farm/system to work for itself.

3. Maintain and develop your garden/farm/system in a way that is responsive and adaptable; be willing to change in slow steps that allow for the observation of cause and effect.

4. Look for hidden benefits in what might otherwise seem like a problem; produce no waste by finding gifts wherever you can. This includes using things that no longer serve their original purpose in new ways by recycling, up-cycling, and composting.

5. Design a mutually supportive system to generate as many of your farm or garden’s needs within the environment itself.  The idea here is the different elements of your garden or farm provide for each other. This allows you to rely on outside resources as little as possible; your backyard, farm, or community provide for your needs. These needs can include: sourcing food and water for all the plants and animals, preventing an imbalance of pests, sourcing materials for construction, and generating energy for production.

With that in mind, when farming or gardening with permaculture, here are some common questions that guide the creation of what’s called a “closed-loop”, meaning a self-sufficient system that provides for all its own needs:

What can help produce healthy soil?

There are many ways to support the production of healthy soil. First, there’s mulching. The mulching method is inspired by the natural formation of forest floors⁵. It is most often recognized as shredded wood or wood chips, but it can also include dried leaves. Mulch acts as a barrier that protects the soil from erosion and holds in hydration. It also adds valuable organic matter to the soil as it decomposes over time. Planting trees that need regular trimming of their branches or that drop a lot of leaves will help provide a regular source of mulch.

Next, there’s composting. which is a process of making home fertilizer by turning plant and animal waste into food for plants. It is done in many ways including the use of kitchen scraps, earthworms, and even human poop⁶.

Some permaculture systems integrate livestock directly into their forests or fields where their manure is directly applied to the soil. This can include silvopasture⁷, which integrates livestock with trees or rotational grazing⁸, which allows livestock to graze in plots of land after they’ve been harvested and before they’re replanted.

Finally, there’s nitrogen-fixing plants. Nitrogen is an essential nutrient that’s essential for plant growth. Nitrogen-fixing plants have a symbiotic relationship with microorganisms who live in their roots and help convert nitrogen from the atmosphere into nitrogen that plants can use⁹.

How can water be gathered and stored?

There are many ways that water can be gathered and stories. Firstly, there’s rainwater harvesting¹⁰.This method catches and stores rainwater from rooftops before it drains into gutters or rivers. There’s also swales¹¹, which are deep trenches that catch run-off from a slope and slowly seep the water into the ground, recharging the groundwater and hydrating the soil all around it. There’s also ponds¹² which not only store water but also support biodiversity with the addition of aquatic life.

What can support pollination?

Pollinators are essential components to any healthy ecosystems as they are required for the fertilization and reproduction of many plants. While there are many ways to support pollinators¹³, a few key supports are to:

• include a variety of plants that flower in all seasons (pollinators need food all year long!)

• keep honey bee boxes

• offer a bird bath or other water source

• provide nesting sites¹⁴ (some pollinators live in piles of leaves, woodblock, or tunnels that they dig into bare ground)

What can manage weeds?

There are many ways to manage weeds, including: mulch and ground covers that suppress weeds and livestock that eat it. When considering the management of weeds, it’s important to understand what a weed actually is. In its most general sense, a weed is any plant that’s growing where it’s not wanted¹⁵. With that in mind, it’s important to understand the difference between native and invasive plants. Native plants¹⁶ are species that have evolved over thousands of years in the same ecosystem to be able to provide for the needs of other parts of the ecosystem (such as providing food for wildlife, support for pollinators, pest repellant, shade or mulch). At the same time, native plants receive all they need from the place they’re planted; they truly live in harmony with the ecosystem. Learn more about native plants here.

Non-native plants are species that have been brought into an ecosystem from another place (such as most annual veggies and fruit trees). Non-native plants are able to live in harmony with native plants while often supporting the needs of humans. Invasive plants¹⁷, however, are non-native plants that do not stay in harmony with the ecosystems as they tend to dominate landscapes. Learn more about invasive plants here. For this reason, permaculture often aims to plant as many native species as possible to support local ecosystems, while only planting non-natives that stay in balance with the whole. 

How can food be produced efficiently?

One of the ways that permaculture supports sustainability is by aiming to make the most of our time and resources; it aims to produce as much as possible in the smallest amount of space, with the least amount of effort, and the least amount of resources. Sounds pretty good, right? Here are some methods that are often used to this end:

Firstly, permaculture tends to have a preference for perennial plants (over annuals). Investing in perennial plants that produce every year is more efficient than relying solely on annual veggies that have to be seeded and planted every year. This is not to say that permaculture rejects tomatoes and carrots, but that it integrates them within food systems that are more permanent. 

Permaculture also tends to promote intercropping¹⁸/companion planting¹⁹/crop rotation²⁰. These methods of crop or garden design are based on the ways that plants can support each other when they grow next to each other, or in succession of each other. Some plants, for example, enrich the soil with nitrogen, some attract beneficial insects, and some prevent pests.  In this way, plants can provide for each other. One fantastic example of this is the practice of the Three Sisters, or Milpa²¹ where Indigenous American cultures plant corn, beans, and squash together in a synchronistic system in which the beans can climb on the corn while fertilizing the soil, and the squash can protect the ground as a cover, all while providing the ingredients for a balanced meal of protein, carbohydrates, fibers, and important vitamins and minerals. Learn more about regenerative agriculture here.

Finally, permaculture uses techniques of agroforestry. This method integrates trees and shrubs with crops in systems of supportive layers (much like a forest does). Cultivating wild foods within natural forests can be done in many ways, such the practice of Chagra²² in the Amazon, or the forest gardens that are cultivated by the Indigenous People of the Pacific Northwest²³.

Inspired by agroforestry methods from around the world, many permaculture systems design food forests²⁴ ²⁵. To get an idea of how a food forest works, imagine with me the layers that they often include: Over head, there’s tall shading trees. Underneath them are smaller trees that produce fruits, nuts, or medicinals. Under them are shrubs that also produce fruit or natural medicine (plus they offer brambles that provide habitat for birds). Then, climbing up the trees are vines that use them as a trellis. On the ground level, there’s much shorter, and shade-tolerant plants that are also edible or medicinal. Then, there’s ground covers that not only protect the soil but also produce fruits and medicines. Planted amongst them are root crops that grow under the soil. Finally, there’s a fungal layer of mushrooms to top it all off. 

A Curious Conclusion

Because permaculture is such a broadly-defined term that is influenced by so many different sources, by no means is this an exhaustive list of its origins, ideas, or method. Indeed, I still feel like I’m at the beginning of the most fulfilling journey I could have ever imagined. What a gift to live in the question: How is my life part of life?

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_ecological_knowledge

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture#:~:text=Permaculture%20is%20a%20philosophy%20of,as%20a%20single%20product%20system.

3. Ibid.

4.  https://permacultureprinciples.com/permaculture-principles/

5.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheet_mulching

6. http://humanurehandbook.com

7. https://www.fs.usda.gov/nac/practices/silvopasture.php#:~:text=Silvopasture%20is%20the%20deliberate%20integration,for%20long%2Dterm%20tree%20regeneration.

8. https://roundthebendfarm.org/diversity/multi-species-rotational-grazing/#:~:text=Pasture%20rotation%20is%20a%20great,search%20of%20roots%20and%20grubs.

9. https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/biological-nitrogen-fixation-23570419/#:~:text=Many%20microorganisms%20fix%20nitrogen%20symbiotically,host%20plant%20for%20its%20growth.

10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainwater_harvesting

11. https://treeyopermacultureedu.com/chapter-9-earth-working-and-earth-resources/permaculture-swales/#:~:text=A%20swale%20indeed%20in%20practical,maps%20to%20aid%20this%20understanding.

12. https://sustainablereview.com/how-to-design-and-build-a-permaculture-pond/

13. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/pollinators/helping-in-our-own-backyards.htm

14. https://www.xerces.org/sites/default/files/2018-05/12-015_02_XercesSoc_Nests-for-Native-Bees-fact-sheet_web.pdf

15. https://www.britannica.com/plant/weed

16. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/invasive/learn.htm#:~:text=in%20President's%20Park.-,NPS%20Photo.,of%20others%20within%20the%20ecosystem.

17.  https://www.nps.gov/subjects/invasive/what-are-invasive-species.htm

18.  https://www.sare.org/publications/crop-rotation-on-organic-farms/guidelines-for-intercropping/

19.  https://www.montana.edu/extension/broadwater/blog-article.html?id=18786#:~:text=Even%20though%20there%20is%20little,it%20the%20%E2%80%9CThree%20Sisters%E2%80%9D.

20. https://bioneers.org/crop-rotation-improves-soil-health-yields/#:~:text=Ancient%20Middle%20Eastern%20Farmers%20rotated,increase%20biodiversity%20on%20the%20farm.

21. https://www.pbsutah.org/blogs/modern-gardener/three-sisters-planting-and-la-milpa/

22.  https://plantwithpurpose.org/indigenous-regenerative-agriculture/ 

23.  https://www.science.org/content/article/pacific-northwest-s-forest-gardens-were-deliberately-planted-indigenous-people

24.  https://attra.ncat.org/publication/community-forest-gardens-case-studies/

25. https://sustainableamerica.org/blog/the-rise-of-community-food-forests/